Five steps to impartial humanitarian response for the most vulnerable

What is the Inclusion Charter?

To deliver impartial and accountable humanitarian assistance that responds to vulnerability in all its forms, and reaches the most marginalised people (including children, youth, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic groups and others marginalised due to their social status),
an inclusive approach to the design, implementation, monitoring and funding of humanitarian assistance is required.

The Secretary General’s Agenda for Humanity recognises that “Honouring our commitment to leave no one behind requires reaching everyone in situations of conflict, disasters, vulnerability and risk” and places an emphasis on “reach[ing] the furthest behind first”. To achieve this aim, steps must be taken by all those involved in response – including National Governments, NGOs and civil society, UN agencies and Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies
– to address the neglect faced by the most marginalised and those at the greatest risk of being left behind.

The Inclusion Charter consists of five steps that can be taken by humanitarian actors to ensure that assistance reaches those most in need, and supports them to move out of crises and on to a path toward the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Five STEPS TO INCLUSION IN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

The commitments and actions below have been developed by leading organisations that have a specific mandate to support particular vulnerable groups including children, youth, older people and persons with disabilities, as well as national and international NGOs and networks that are concerned about ensuring humanitarian assistance reaches the most vulnerable crisis-affected people.
They draw and build upon the core commitments developed for the World Humanitarian Summit roundtable discussions.

Participation

We will systematically engage with all affected people, including the most marginalised, to deliver meaningful participation and consultation to ensure that their views are reflected in all aspects of the response including assessment, design, delivery and monitoring and evaluation.

We will do this by

Ensuring programmatic and funding decisions are based on robust vulnerability analysis, offering opportunities for the most marginalised (including children, youth, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic groups and others who are marginalised due to their social status) to engage in consultations, and participate in response design and implementation. In doing so, we will support a common cross-agency approach for community engagement and accountability to connect community feedback to strategic decision-making processes.

Recognising and supporting the role of local actors, including representatives of community groups such as women’s groups, youth groups and older people’s groups can play in facilitating participation of marginalised groups and those most at risk.

Data

We will collect, fully disaggregate, and utilise data for different population groups in order to provide robust evidence to design, revise and learn from programming that is reflective of and appropriate for the people and needs identified.

Using disaggregated data and evidence from participatory engagement to ensure that all humanitarian response plans and programmes reflect the diverse needs of the affected population based on their gender, age, ability and other vulnerability factors.

Funding

We will work with humanitarian donors to ensure that funding is commensurate with the scale of needs and is allocated impartially according to need, recognising the needs of different groups.

We will do this by

Working with humanitarian donors to ensure funding, including pooled funds and Southern emerging Funding Pools are allocated only to funding actions that explicitly include a fully inclusive needs analysis with sex, age and disability disaggregated data where available.

Working with humanitarian donors to ensure they apply the IASC, ECHO, or other gender and age markers to 100% of their humanitarian funding allocations, and to develop and refine markers to better reflect the needs of other marginalised groups such as persons with disability.

Capacity

We will contribute to developing and maintaining the knowledge and skills of humanitarian actors so they are able to identify the needs of marginalised people and deliver appropriate and accessible assistance.

We will do this by

Contributing to the development of adequate and appropriate expertise at all levels to identify , analyse, and respond to the needs of the most marginalised, supporting capacity mapping to inform capacity development and gap-filling by international and regional partners.

Building the core knowledge of staff to ensure an essential basic level understanding of humanitarian principles, available guidance in support of inclusive programming, and skills in data collection, analysis and use.

Where appropriate, building specialist skills of staff to address the needs of vulnerable people in crisis.

Coordination

We will work with those responsible for humanitarian coordination to ensure that coordination mechanisms guarantee the needs of all affected people, including the most marginalised, are met.

We will do this by

Working with agencies responsible for humanitarian coordination to ensure they take a leadership role in identifying gaps in response capacity and supporting service mapping and referrals between mainstream and specialist actors to ensure the safety and dignity of the most vulnerable are protected and their needs addressed.

Working with agencies responsible for humanitarian coordination to ensure focal points are created to mainstream and monitor inclusion of marginalised groups within coordination systems and operational agencies, reflecting the recommendations of OCHA’s 2011 review of “cross cutting issues”.